


Charmed

by Eloarei



Series: OP rewatch short fics [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Drunken Flirting, Minor Character(s), Multi, POV Minor Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 03:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11843184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eloarei/pseuds/Eloarei
Summary: There was something charming about the red-haired pirate, and even if he hadn't shamelessly and drunkenly flirted with her several times, Makino thought she'd probably still think so.





	Charmed

**Author's Note:**

> I started rewatching One Piece recently, and this is the 2nd of what I hope will be an entire year's worth of weekly short-fics revolving around some of the minor characters I like. It's my first time writing any of these characters, but I'd like to try them again sometime. =] (Also, according to the tagging system, Shanks/Makino/Ben is a thing someone has already done? Yeah, uh, I'm gonna have to go check that out!)

  
She had no idea what made the Red-Hair pirates decide to camp out in their quaint little town, because Fuusha was neither a bustling port city nor a remote vacation destination, but she didn't mind. Well, she minded at first; like any other village maiden, Makino was aware of how terrible pirates could be, and she was as wary of them as anyone. But they ended up being truly alright sorts, and what was more: they paid for their drinks. As bartender, that was a huge step towards a good impression on her.  
  
The little island had bandits galore (they liked to hide up in the mountains for some reason), but pirates rarely stopped through, so Makino didn't have a good idea of what they were supposed to be like, except for hear-say. (And there was plenty of that, these days, since Gold Roger had gone and sent everybody into a frenzy.) People said pirates were loud and rude and took what they wanted and were generally to be feared, and the Red-Hair pirates proved that to be mostly true and yet very false.  
  
They were definitely loud. They spent hours at the bar, sometimes a week in a row before they went out again, and the place had never seen so much activity. Butts in every seat (and table, and empty bit of floor space) and drinks in every mug (and sometimes hats and boots and skulls and other places drinks didn't normally go), and laughter filling the air. They were truly a boisterous bunch. Bartending had never felt so much like attending a party.  
  
Admittedly, they were rude too-- but never to her, or the other villagers, or even the bandits. It was just how they treated each other, with a sort of casual violence and disregard that might have seemed alarming if you didn't pay closer attention to them. But Makino could tell that they all genuinely cared about each other, despite the pushing and shoving and punching and insults, or maybe _because_ of them. It was their own special brand of camaraderie, how they showed their affection.  
  
Well, mostly.  
  
They were a drunken bunch, and free with their affections, which _mostly_ meant fighting and insulting, but sometimes meant draping themselves over one another and pressing messy kisses all over each other's beer-reddened faces. Their captain (the eponymous red-hair, Shanks) was the worst offender. Makino could hardly count the number of times she'd seen him leaning heavily on some crewmate or another, periodically slobbering on their face like a big excited dog. None of them seemed to mind; even the ones who didn't respond in kind would only shove him away enough to get some breathing room, grinning still like it was just another quirk of their beloved captain.  
  
Shanks had even come on to _her_ a few times. She remembered the first time in painful clarity, like she could still feel the burning in her cheeks. He'd been slouched happily at the bar and just reached over and grabbed her hand and started pressing kisses to it like it was something they did all the time.  
  
“Ah, Makino, you're my favorite! You're the best bartender in this town. No, no, in the whole world! Has anybody ever told you that?”  
  
Even in the faint reflections of the glasses she'd just been cleaning, she could see clear as day how the color had risen in her usually-pale face almost bright enough to match Shanks' hair. She wasn't sure what she was feeling: some volatile combination of mortification, irritation, and exactly what you'd expect to feel when a charming and attractive man starts lavishing affection on you. She didn't have the strength or presence of mind to pull away, but luckily Shanks' first mate was never nearly as drunk as anyone else, and was on captain-guard-duty that day.  
  
“Lay off the woman, you lout,” Ben Beckman told his captain in a low rumble that was maybe a bit menacing, but definitely full of exasperated affection. He reached over and pinched Shanks' arm when the man didn't seem to hear him.  
  
The captain had the grace to look a little sheepish, even through his drunken haze. He pulled back from Makino's hand (damp on top from his messy kisses, moist on the palm from sweating), and gave her as polite and charming of an apology as he could probably manage.  
  
“Sorry, Miss Makino. I was just so impressed by the spirits today I could hardly help myself!”  
  
She'd brushed it off, of course, laughing and brushing her hair back behind her ear in a nervous sort of gesture. It had left her a little preoccupied for a few days, but she knew it didn't mean anything. It wasn't even that she wanted to date Shanks or anything (women did, of course, sometimes marry pirates, or marry a man that later went on to be a pirate, but it didn't seem like an appealing life, always waiting for him to come home, hoping he hadn't gotten himself killed), it was just that it was hard not to get a little flustered in a situation like that, even if it was clear as day that he wasn't really interested in her. (Not as more than a friend and provider of booze, at least.)  
  
No, she was fairly certain that Shanks was already involved with his first mate anyway. Beckman always kept an eye on his energetic captain, and never seemed terribly upset when the man started getting handsy with their other crewmates (or the bartender). But he was always there for Shanks to stumble back to, and Shanks _did_. As touchy as he got with the others, the captain always still seemed to be playing. With Beckman, though, he looked more serious. He didn't perch on his lap in quite the same haphazard way, and he wasn't always full of laughs and sloppy kisses. Beckman was the one he went back to when his mood had started to calm. He'd slouch next to the tall man, lay his head on his shoulder, fiddle with his long black ponytail, and gaze up at him with a deep considering look you only ever saw on people who were drunk, or in love. (Makino's bet was on 'both'.) All the while, the first mate would puff on his cigarette and act like he was pretending he didn't notice or care that Shanks had melted into him, but from Makino's front-row seat she could see the way Beckman shifted gently to bring them closer together.  
  
Also they had sort of told her.  
  
After they'd stuck around for a while and she'd decided she wasn't hoping they'd go away any time soon, she realized she didn't know all that much about them and had started asking the usual questions: Where did you come from? Which island has been your favorite? Why did you decide to become pirates?  
  
It was just the two of them at the bar when she asked, “How long have you been together?” and she didn't realize Shanks had misunderstood her until halfway through his answer.  
  
“Oh, since we were back on the Oro Jackson, I guess. First time I hit on him, he thought I was trying to bribe him or something, since he had more seniority with the crew.” He laughed at the memory.  
  
Beckman gave a smirk that, on him, might as well have been a grin. “You always were shameless.”  
  
Shanks slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Hey now, are you really gonna talk about your captain that way? You're gonna have to make it up to me later.”  
  
Rolling his eyes at Shanks' playfully lewd (and hopeful) expression, Beckman turned and raised an eyebrow at Makino. “As I said: shameless.”  
  
The group stayed a little less long that day than they normally did, and Makino got the impression that Beckman didn't mind his captain's shamelessness one bit.  
  
She never did figure out how long the _crew_ had been together (her original intention with that question), but she figured the answer was 'long enough', given how much each of them clearly adored their captain. Then again, maybe it didn't take very long at all for Shanks to inspire that sort of loyalty; she'd only known him a few months and already she'd be hard-pressed to deny that she sort of adored him as well. That charming man, there was really just something about him.   
  
The Red-Hair pirate crew did eventually decide it was time to leave their little island, and Makino was sad to see them go, but glad she had a chance to meet them in the first place. And who knew? Maybe when the Great Age of Piracy was over, the great pirates would come back around for another long vacation. 

 


End file.
